BBN Technologies Awarded $74M to Provide over 8,000 Life-Saving Boomerang Shooter...

BBN Technologies Awarded $74M to Provide over 8,000 Life-Saving Boomerang Shooter Detection Systems to US Army

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
BBN Technologies, an advanced technology solutions firm, today
announced that it has been awarded a $73,845,000 contract by the US
Army Project Manager Robotics and Unmanned Sensors (PM RUS) to deliver
8,131 Boomerang Systems, spare parts, and training services over the
next six months.

The Boomerang system immediately alerts US forces to the
occurrence of hostile incoming fire and pinpoints the location of the
enemy shooter. The Boomerang systems for this contract will be
manufactured at Kimchuk, Inc., a contract manufacturing and
engineering firm based in Danbury, Connecticut.

A spokesperson for Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) stated:
"Senator Kennedy is delighted that BBN Technologies has been awarded
this contract. Sniper detection is indispensable in keeping our brave
men and women in uniform safe in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Senator
is proud that BBN Technologies' Boomerang systems have again been
selected by the Army to carry out this mission. He looks forward to
continuing to work with BBN Technologies and the Army to see that our
troops have the best possible equipment to meet their needs."

"The Boomerang system allows our Armed Forces to provide better
protection for our men and women on the battlefield," said Senator
Chris Dodd (D-CT). "This contract recognizes the important
contribution the skilled workers at Kimchuk's Danbury facility can
offer towards the safety of our troops in harm's way. By rapidly
manufacturing and delivering these systems to our brave men and women
in uniform, Kimchuk will help save countless lives."

"Our soldiers are required to make split second decisions, based
on established rules of engagement, when confronted with hostile
sniper fire," said LTC Terrence Howard, US Army Project Manager
Robotics and Unmanned Sensors. "They deserve a capability that will
tell them two things: was a shot fired and was it fired at me. We are
excited about this opportunity to put a proven product in the hands of
our deserving warfighters."

Original prototypes were designed, developed, and delivered to
Iraq in just 66 days under a 2004 Rapid Reaction Initiative funded by
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Positive
feedback led to further urgent requirements from US forces (Army and
Marines), which were then procured, fielded, and sustained by the US
Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF) and US Army
Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) in 2006.

Starting in 2004, BBN initiated a spiral development upgrade
program that incorporated significant user feedback, resulting in
hardening of the system, improved urban performance, integration with
various electro-optical/infrared and remote weapons systems, and
integration with Cursor on Target and FBCB2. Additional fixed site
protection requirements are expected shortly.

Mark Sherman, vice president and general manager, Boomerang, BBN
Technologies, said, "Boomerang is a life-saving technology and we are
fully committed to supplying these systems in an accelerated fashion
to support the Army's operational needs. The messages we get from our
troops in the field convince me that Boomerang is making a real
difference, and I couldn't be more proud of the agile team at BBN that
has made this possible."

BBN is currently applying its shooter detection technology for
man-wearable and helicopter applications. Field testing for both
systems is successfully underway and BBN expects to deliver
operational units of each later this year for evaluation by the
military.

Tad Elmer, president and CEO, BBN Technologies, said, "This
contract marks a significant success in our growth strategy, which
features leveraging the substantial intellectual property and
technologies we create here to produce needed, advanced, repeatable
solutions such as Boomerang. Not only is BBN continuing to conduct
world class R&D, but we are now on target to generate over 25 percent
of our 2008 revenue from product sales, a percentage that is growing
very rapidly."

About BBN Technologies

BBN Technologies is a legendary R&D organization that leverages
its substantial intellectual property portfolio to produce advanced,
repeatable solutions such as the Boomerang shooter detection system.
With expertise spanning information security, speech and language
processing, networking, distributed systems, and sensing and control
systems, BBN scientists and engineers have amassed a substantial
collection of innovations and patented solutions. BBN now employs
approximately 700 people in seven locations in the US: Cambridge,
Massachusetts (headquarters); Arlington, Virginia; Columbia, Maryland;
Middletown, Rhode Island; San Diego, California; St. Louis Park,
Minnesota; and O'Fallon, Illinois. For more information, visit
www.bbn.com.

BBN Technologies
Mark Gauthier, 978-325-7048
mgauthier@bbn.com
or
Joyce Kuzmin, 617-872-3389
jkuzmin@bbn.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008